Hernandez agrees with Rockies

Not that it’s a surprise that catcher Ramon Hernandez won’t be returning to the Reds, but now his departure appears imminent. Multiple reports have the Rockies agreeing to terms with Hernandez on a two-year contract. Fox Sports has reported the contract to be worth $6.5 million, which isn’t a bad haul at all for the 35-year-old Hernandez at this stage of his career.

Since Hernandez was a Type B free agent, the Reds will receive a supplemental round Draft pick as compensation.

Of course, that should make it clear that Ryan Hanigan and top prospect Devin Mesoraco is the Reds catching tandem for 2012. There was a very minimal report a couple of weeks ago that the Angels had some interest in Hanigan, but Anaheim tonight acquired catcher Chris Ianetta from Colorado, which cleared the spot for the Rockies to sign Hernandez.

Once Mesoraco showed he was ready for the big leagues, the writing was on the wall for Hernandez. He had a nice three-season run for the Reds and batted .280 with 24 homers and 121 RBIs in 269 games. He was also a good veteran presence in the clubhouse. The Hernandez-Hanigan duo provided one of the best offensive catching combos in the NL during the 2010 playoff run.

Share this:

Like this:

Related

16 Comments

He is going to be missed. I really hope Mesoraco can do a good job behind the plate and I am looking forward to seeing how well Hanigan does with more playing time. 116 walks with 95 strike outs in 5 years and it should only get better.

Reminds me of the Arthur Rhodes situation last year. At that age (isn’t 35 pretty old for a catcher?), you have to decide if the season just past is the last good one for the player. A two year deal, wow, I don’t think so. I’m with you, Curt. There was something about Hernandez you couldn’t help but like. Won’t ever forget the three-run Opening Day homer. But old pieces roll out the back and you shove new pieces in the front and try to keep moving. With Grandal in the wings, the Reds will need to know about Mesoraco before next July’s trading deadline. That means lots of playing time. Meanwhile, Hannigan throws runners out better than Hernandez could, and is 5 years (?) younger. So he stays.

sorry to see him go for nothing that is the worst problem in baseball that teams dont have to complete a trade where fa are involved they have free agents, but is Jocketty a man or completely a mouse 61 years a Red fan and for really only the 2nd time I feel we have made a total mistake—-1st time Jocketty replaced Krivsky.

Even though few of us were persuaded (I know I wasn’t; I had seen enough of this wobbly club over the first half of the season), I trust the front office meant what it kept saying: that the players were in place to make a second-half charge. That included, most decisively, one Ramon Hernandez. So no trade, perhaps mostly for this reason. And in light of what happened to the Cardinals, not an unrealistic expectation.

The Cards won mostly with a better Pujols in the second half and a revived Carpenter who finally pitcher down the stretch like Carpenter. Now the Furcal pick-up was probably critical as well, but he’s a prime example of the kind of expensive acquisition that a mid=size market like St. Louis can do that small market Cincinnati can’t dare touch. And that’s the way it is and will remain until the game decides to awaken to the need to radically restructure its economic arrangements. We’ll probably be waiting a very long time.

I can’t see how anything would really help that except maybe changing the divisions format to big market / small market but even that would not help much. It just makes it more of a challenge for GM’s on small market teams. If the A’s can do it, I am sure the Reds can too.

The A’s did it because they had an innovative approach before anyone else. Now everyone else has caught up and they are no longer winning division titles, or even coming close any longer. What it will take is more radical revenue sharing somewhat like what the NFL manages to pull off. It has kept the league balanced and with competitive parity in place.

Archives

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.